If you are going to San Fransisco (aka "Things to do in Denver.../pt 2")

[Montelovesco]

Looks like we are doing it again: As in 2013 wife, the two little ones and myself will go for a ten weeks RV trip through the US (some of you might remember the 2013 dairy).

Last time we started in Denver with a clear idea about the tour. This time we will pick up the RV in San Fransisco. Planning status at the moment is: north/north-west till Yellowstone, then back to Seattle, maybe touching Vancouver for some days. Back to Germany from there. Lots and lots of stops (and pawn shops and stuff) on the way, of course.

Can you recommend this just from a kind of weather viewpoint? I am not talking about the hotspots and the places we must see. It is just the question: We will be on the road from end of May till midst of August. What do you think? Too hot? Too cold? Too wet? Too...? Better take the road south?

Any help is much appreciated!

[Michael_B]

It should be a beautiful time of year for that kind of trip. I've been to Yellowstone in each of the seasons and every time it was exquisite. I hear that Seattle and Vancouver are spectacular in the summer. I expect to be relocated to Seattle by then- let me know when you're passing through.

[Montelovesco]

Thanks! Sure will do that.

[ptm1diver]

Shoot Prairie Dogs

[Montelovesco]

Shoot Prairie Dogs

Wife likes that...

[Tres Aardvarks]

Definitely a good time to make that trip. Make a trip into the mountains to one of the ski towns, but maybe not Estes Park / Rocky Mountain National Park. RMNP is gorgeous (I spent a lot of time up there) but it is horribly packed with tourists during the summer!

During the long drive up to Yellowstone be sure to swing by some of the mountains on the way (Grand Tetons for instance). The actual prairie scrub isn't as romantic to drive through as you think As you make your way West, there's lots of cool stuff to see. I regularly fly into Bend, OR for work, and if you did it right you could hit that area then drive back towards Portland right past Mt Hood. When I flew in for my interview, we drove from Portland and stopped at the top parking lot of Hood...pretty cool to be that high on a snow covered mountain without having had to hike it in. The volcanic flows around Bend are crazy cool and not something easily found elsewhere.

[Toadroller]

Wait, I'm confused. You're not going to Denver this trip, are you?

[Montelovesco]

Wait, I'm confused. You're not going to Denver this trip, are you?

Sorry, wasn't my intention. No, we are NOT goong to Denver. The title referres to my very first post in this matter two years ago. It was THEN that we went to Denver... (Dairy here:www.hamerfanclub.com/forums/topic/59492-tour-diary-all-good-things-famous-last-words?hl=denver)

Maybe a bad choice. What about the old Scott McKenzie title?

[django49]

That is a good time of year. We are in the Portland area, 3 hours or so south of Seattle. The old cliche is that it is likely to be wet here the first week in June, then be a glorious summer. Let us know when you are passing through.

As a plus, there is always a surplus of Hamers in these here parts. As well as some certain German guitars, y'unnserstand.

[Camstone]

I've lived in Washington State since 1974. The drizzle rain in Seattle usually lets up around mid June and stays away till the beginning of October, so your planned visit should catch the Puget Sound at the very best time. There's a half dozen or so HFC'ers here. Perhaps we can plan a gathering while your passing through?

[Montelovesco]

I've lived in Washington State since 1974. The drizzle rain in Seattle usually lets up around mid June and stays away till the beginning of October, so your planned visit should catch the Puget Sound at the very best time. There's a half dozen or so HFC'ers here. Perhaps we can plan a gathering while your passing through?

I would love that (wife maybe not so much... ;-))!! Kind of international Hamer summit. Gilles, you're coming, too?

[dhuber]

I was out in northern Colorado on my motorcycle last September. Apart from a few forest fires the weather was spectacular. I really like the west coast.

[gorch]

Yosemite and Mount Shasta are great places to go. Well and the massive redwoods somewhere in between are amazing.

[Michael_B]

You wrote that you'd "maybe" stop in Vancouver. While I've never been to Vancouver, everyone seems to love it. So, you may want to upgrade Vancouver to "probable." I've heard there's a 3-hr ferry ride from Seattle to Vancouver that is scenic.

[Sugartune]

I can vouch for Vancouver and Vancouver Island. I spent 10 days there on vacation a couple of years ago. Was very nice. Planning another trip this spring.

[cynic]

^^ What he said. If it were me I'd park the RV somewhere between Nanaimo and Qualicum Beach on Vancouver Island until it was time to go home.

It's a pretty rustic area, but I've never missed modern amenities while there. If you have to, Vancouver is a short ferry ride from Nanaimo, but in terms of nearby urban areas, Victoria (also on Vancouver Island) gets my vote over Vancouver every time.

[Sugartune]

Yeah, Victoria is very nice!

We took the ferry from Van to Victoria to Nanaimo, to Tofino, to Comox (to visit my brother) and back to Nanaimo for the ferry back to Van.

The Cathedral Grove Forest on the way to Tofino from Nanaimo was one the coolest places/things I've ever seen.

In Vancouver, I'd recommend checking out the Capilano Suspension Bridge. Also zip lining in Whistler (Just under a two hour drive from Vancouver). Along with the Cathedral Grove, those were key highlights for me.

[Montelovesco]

Thanks for the tipps - please keep going. Wife`s interested, too.

[Sugartune]

Right! The drive on Vancouver Island was worth it alone. Through mountains and old growth forests, beautiful! Surfing and whale watching in Tofino. Nanaimo bars in Nanaimo...

[Montelovesco]

Ok, folks, we did. I purchased the tickets for the upcoming trip.

We will leave Germany for San Fransisco on the 27th of May and will be on our way home on 10th of August (via Jackson to Chicago). The tour in between? Not planned at all. I guess all the way north till - whats thats country name? Nacada? - Vancouver and then east via Yellowstone...

Any tips are appreciated, as always.

Man, we ARE excited!

[BlueRedWhite]

Isn't Wine country around San Francisco?? Napa Valley?? Sausalito??

My sister says San Francisco is the most beautiful city in US

BTW, that's the type of trip i would love to do

An ex-boyfriend of mine's dream was RVing our way through route 66.

Hope to see your account afterwards!

[Montelovesco]

Isn't Wine country around San Francisco?? Napa Valley?? Sausalito??

My sister says San Francisco is the most beautiful city in US

BTW, that's the type of trip i would love to do

An ex-boyfriend of mine's dream was RVing our way through route 66.

Hope to see your account afterwards!

I did a kind of dairy the last time we did this - one for the folks at home with pics and stuff, but in German, and some kind of weekly based update here. Mostly with POI stuff, and, of course, some pawn shop guitar hunting tales. Like: The 4 digit standard I found in Elephant Butte for 350, but they didn't take AMEX... :-)

We will do something like that again, I am sure.

[crunchee]

You could always check out Subway Guitars in Berkeley:

http://www.fatdawg.com/

Also, as the song goes, don't forget to wear some flowers in your hair...

[gorch]

For San Francisco, don't forget to walk over the Golden Gate bridge. It's impressive! Check out the earth quake information center in Marin County. Enjoy the lobster, and directly go to prison. Well, take the boat.

[gtone]

Our younger son's a commercial helicopter pilot based in the Vancouver area. He and his friends provide some pretty impressive scenic tours of that area if he's still with the same operator when you're over on this side of the pond.

[RobB]

Alcatraz is a definite must do. On a nice day the views are amazing. You'll need to make reservations in advance, though.

The kids (and parents) will dig the Exploratorium at Fisherman's wharf.

California Academy of Sciences. Kids will dig this, too.

If you can take a day trip the Monterey Bay aquarium is another good one.

Rent bikes from Blazing Saddles, ride across the GG Bridge, have lunch in Sausalito and take the Larkspur ferry back to SF.